According to a New York Times expose, Republican front-runner Mitt
Romney and Prime Minister are old friends dating to before their
political careers.

"The two young men had woefully little in common: one was a wealthy
Mormon from Michigan, the other a middle-class Jew from Israel,"
reported the NYT.

"But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu
intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the
Boston Consulting Group, where both had been recruited as corporate
advisers.

"At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other
up during the firm’s weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the
same profoundly analytical view of the world.

"That shared experience decades ago led to a warm friendship, little
known to outsiders, that is now rich with political intrigue."

The NYT quoted Romney as saying, “We can almost speak in shorthand.
We share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning
which is similar.”